PRINCETON, N.J.- Participating in their last meets before the holiday break, Monmouth University's track and field athletes had a successful showing at the Princeton Invitational and the Harvard Pentathlon on Friday and Saturday.
"The Princeton meet was the first opportunity for us to see our full team in action, with the exception of some of the distance runners who just finished cross country," said head coach
Joe Compagni. "Our throwers for both the men and the women had some tremendous performances as did our women's sprinters against some very strong teams."
The women were highlighted by
Latasha Dickson's (Aberdeen, N.J./Matawan) ECAC qualifying time of 1:15.74 in the 500m. Dickson came back and anchored the 4x400 relay team that took first place. Freshmen
Michelle Losey (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway),
Brittany Gibbs (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) and
Crystal Stein (Stewartstown, Pa./ Susquehannak) were the other three components to MU's winning time of 3:57.35. Gibbs also finished 11th in the 300m with a time of 43.40, which is the seventh best time in school history.
Deanna Paulson's (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) time of 42.63 in the 300m was seventh place and good enough for second in school history.
Gibbs also tallied the second best distance in the triple jump, while
Nikki Zwartjes (Burlington, N.J./Burlington) tied her own school record in the pole vault clearing 10'-10".
Tiffany Stevens (Bloomsbury, N.J./Delaware Valley) also bested her personal best in the weight throw by eight feet (46'2.75").
Hawk
Chris Vuano (Wall, N.J./CBA) had a first place time of 1:05.50 in the 500m. The men's 4x4 team of
Darrin Chandler (Hackensack, N.J/Paramas Catholic),
Derrik Keich (Tarnaqua, Pa./Tarnaqua Area),
Kevin Gilroy (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./ Comsewogue) and Vuono took second with a time of 3:26.46. Junior
Christian Keller (Matawan, N.J./Matawan) took first among the team competitors in the weight throw with a throw of 60'-1.25", which qualified him for the IC4A's. His throw was the seventh best in MU history.
Nick Williams (Adamstown, Md./Urbana) took first in the shot put with a throw of 54'-9.25", with junior
Kyle Hirschklau (Morristown, N.J./Morristown) taking fourth with a toss of 51'-1.5", both of which qualify them for IC4A's.
The Princeton Invitational was a non-team scored event featuring Rutgers, St. Joseph's, West Chester, Temple, Rider, Penn (men only), Manhattan and several other partial teams.
Three MU athletes competed at Harvard on Friday night, which hosted a Pentathlon and a Heptathlon. Senior
Ashley Huffman (South Setauket, N.J./Ward Melville), who sat out all of last year due to an injury, qualified for the ECAC's in her first chance at Princeton. Huffman scored 3,604 points, which is the third best output in school history in the Pentathlon.
Jude Rene (Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton North) broke his own school record in the Heptathlon, earning 4,216 points to take first place at Harvard. Monmouth freshman
Mike Buccheri (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) tallied 4,196 points for second place behind Rene. Buccheri's point totals earned him second place in school history and set a Monmouth freshman record.
"We are looking forward to coming back as a full team in January and expecting that our performances in every event area will get better every week," said Compagni.
The weekend marks the last day of competition for the Hawks until the new year, when they travel up to the Fordham Collegiate Open, held at the New York Armory on January 5, 2007.
Pictured: Latasha Dickson
